Preview

Just Lather Thats All

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
958 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Just Lather Thats All
Throughout a lifetime we will read enormous number of books and stories and only some will inspire us. But have a reader ever wondered why the stories are so effective and great? After reading the short story, “Just Lather, That’s All”, the opinion of the book was positive and there are three elements that made it strong and great. They are: conflict, point of view, and dialogue. One of the elements that make this story really effective and well presented is the conflict. This story has an internal conflict and person vs. person conflict. The person vs. person conflict happens in some parts of the story. For example, when Torres came into a barber shop, sat on the chair and begun to talk about how cruelly he is going to torture barber’s friends. In addition, Torres have even invited him to come and watch the amusement. So the conflict is Torres is killing barber’s friends and barber wants a revenge. “Torres did not know that I was his enemy. He did not know it, nor did the rest.” (pg 15) “So it was going to be very difficult to explain that I had him right in my hands and let him go peacefully-alive and shaved.” (pg. 15)
Throughout the story the reader will also notice that internal conflict presents. Barber is trying to decide should he press a little harder with his razor and be pleased by a revenge or let Torres go perfectly shaved and alive. “Damn him for coming, because I’m a revolutionary and not a murderer. And how easy it would be to kill him. And he deserves it. Does he? No! What the devil! No one deserves to have someone else make the sacrifice of becoming a murderer. What do you gain by it? Nothing.” (pg. 16) “ And what of all this? Murderer or hero? My destiny depends on the edge of this blade.” (pg. 16)
As it seems the two conflicts, internal and person vs. person, makes the story rich. Any reader will notice that most of the stories are written in first person of view. These kinds of stories are well detailed and makes the reader

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Opinion Essay Rough Copy The barber shouldn’t kill Torres. At the end of the story Torres tells the barber everyone thought he would be killed if he came to get his beard cut. The barber is clearly a well known man.…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    short story bicycle

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. In what point of view is the story told? First person narrative. Why is it effective?…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During her lifetime, Southerners were very prejudiced towards people of other lifestyles and races. They believed that people who were less fortunate were less of a person than they were; therefore, people were labeled as different and placed into different social classes. The South provided O 'Connor with the images she needed for her characters. This can easily be identified in her short story titled “Revelation. The characters in the story are identified by physical characteristics and some are even identified with racial terms. . In addition to her Southern upbringing another primary factor throughout her writings is evidence of here strong Catholic convictions, and the influences that sin has on mankind. My goal throughout this paper is to show how her writing style reflects her convictions…

    • 876 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    8. What is the main type of conflict in this story. Provide examples from the story to explain your answer.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lather or Blood

    • 768 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Just Lather, That’s All” tends to set confliction in the minds of its readers. “The day he ordered the whole town to file into the patio of the school to see the four rebels hanging there, I came face to face with him for an instance. But the sight of the mutilated bodies kept me from noticing the face of the man who had directed it all, the face I was about to take into my hands,” said the barber. This quote shows the barber’s realization and emotion over the situation. “On the other hand I, with his razor in my hands, stroking and restroking his skin, trying to keep blood from oozing from these pores, can’t even think clearly. Curse him for coming, because I’m a revolutionary and not a murderer. And how easy it would be to kill him. And he deserves it. Does he? No! No one deserves to have someone else make the sacrifice of becoming a murderer. What do you gain by it? Nothing,” he thinks. This shows precisely the confliction and confusion of the barber’s emotions on the subject of murder.…

    • 768 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sop Just Lather Thats All

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The definition of a coward is one to show fear, the barber shows he is a coward by being afraid, seconding guessing himself, and showing weakness. When the captain walks into the barber shop he begins to quiver on the spot, therefore showing how fearful his is of the captain. For example “When I recognized him I started to tremble.” The barber without a doubt is showing terror. When you’re brave and courageous you never doubt yourself and stick to your guns, however the barber does not. In other words, when you plan on doing something you should never back down. On the other hand the barber does back down. For instance, “But what would I do with the body? Where would I hide it? I would have to flee…” Here he begins to think about what would happen if he did kill the captain and therefore leading him to not kill. In addition, the barber says “No one deserves to have someone else make the sacrifice of becoming a murderer.” In other words he is trying to say he doesn’t deserve to be the one to kill him and be called a murderer. Finally, the barber gives off vulnerability by thinking of reducing the amount of pain and suffering to the captain. For example, the barber thinks to himself “I'm sure that one solid stroke, one deep incision, would prevent any pain. He wouldn't suffer.” Caring for the enemy and trying to minimize the amount of pain they will have is true acts of a coward. In conclusion being fearful, doubting oneself, and giving off weakness is a sure fire sign of a coward.…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Just Lather, That's All

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The first sign of a great story is the use of irony. In this one particularly it is used more than once. First the irony comes from the rejuvenation of the captain when the barbers intentions were actually quite the opposite. He did not want to rejuvenate him at all but to end him completely. The second sign of irony is when the captain leaves unharmed telling the barber that everyone had said he would of killed him but that murder was a difficult task. The captain had known all along about the barbers murdering thoughts. This is such great irony because the barbers secret was no secret at all and it was the captain actually that had the secret. The secret of knowing the barbers secret and then testing the man himself. This perfectly brings us to another element used in this story.…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The White Circle

    • 515 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Now I had for him no soft feeling of any kind. I planned-practically-his extinction as…

    • 515 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Conflicts make a short story interesting. Without conflict in the exposition of a short story, I would have nothing to fuel the tension and excitement a story creates in my mind, which keeps me reading. A conflict isn’t always an argument, fistfight, or shootout, it can be an internal conflict. In “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story” the conflict is man versus himself. Right away Russell Banks writes “I don’t mind describing it now, because I’m a decade older and don’t look the same now as I did then, and Sarah Cole is dead” (76). This shows me the narrator, a man, has struggled telling this story, and only the passing time, along with Sarah Cole’s death is allowing him to get over the inner conflict he has with himself. Further into the story, I can really see how this conflict could affect the short story. Banks’ narrator states his conflict “confuses me, embarrasses me and makes me sad, and consequently I’m likely to tell it falsely” (81). The narrator’s inner conflict is so great, he would jeopardize what truly happened in the story. The struggle shown right away in the exposition, kept my attention and kept me reading to find out if he overcame his embarrassment and…

    • 1944 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Character Cutie In Reason

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages

    the plot of the story Reason. What affect did the personality traits have on the outcome of…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the barber is thinking of killing Torres, he thinks of the possible outcomes of Torres’ death and he to himself, he says “From his throat a stream of blood would flow on the sheet, over the chair, down on my hands, onto the floor” he worries about all the blood rushing out of Torres’ body that would make a huge mess and that someone might notice it. He also says to himself “what about the body? Where would I hide it?” he notices that he has does not have a good place to hide the corpse so he worries about it being found by someone even if he does hide it somewhere. These reasons prove that the barber is cautious and that one should know the consequences of the actions they are about to take. He also considers the fact that “ the blood would go flowing along the floor, warm, indelible, not to be staunched, until it reached the street like a small scarlet river”. He worries about the blood flowing all the way over to the street and being noticed by people. He takes the results of him killing Torres into consideration which makes him a cautious individual and helps the reader understand that one should be aware of the consequences of the actions they are about to…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This story is written in the second person ominous style. The author does not give any details on the description, the personality, or the like of the main character. I really didn’t realize how little I actually knew about the main character until I began to write this paper. The author did such a good job with the details of the actual conflict the other details are not missed. The barber in this story was at work when a customer came in. The customer was obviously not welcome there because when the barber recognized him he started to tremble. The barber concealed his emotion, and the customer said give me a shave. The customer sat down in the chair. Even though this customer made him uncomfortable he prepared to shave him just as he would any other customer. As the barber prepared the shaving soap the customer began sharing his occupational situation, as many do when they go to their barbers. His story was a bit morbid. He spoke of what seem to be an extermination of some kind. He stated “We got the main ones. We brought back some dead, and we’ve got some others still alive. But pretty soon they will all be dead.” This was a great attention grabber technique because I was immediately pulled in to story. The customer continues to speak on his killing techniques as if he were speaking of animals or some other lower life form. When asked he stated that he had killed fourteen of them and not one of them will come out of this alive. The customer bragged about hanging the bodies’ of four…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pirandello - War

    • 550 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. Identify the CONFLICT in this story. Is it primarily an external Man-vs-Man conflict, or is it primarily an internal Man-vs-Self conflict?…

    • 550 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    British Baptist Preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.” By reading “Lather and Nothing Else,” “The Possibility of Evil” and through one’s one personal struggles this quote is found to be true. Everyone faces struggles with themselves. It is yourself that is your own enemy because your mind is what creates your fears, goals and weaknesses not someone else. The story “Lather and Nothing Else” talks about a barber who must decide to be either a hero or a murderer. “The Possibility of Evil” deals with the evil that lies beneath the peaceful surface of a small town. In both stories topics including integrity, honesty, morals, values and work ethic are dealt with Characters in both stories encounter struggle or conflict, but something is learned through this struggle.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    lather and nothing else

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The barber’s first decision for resolving the conflict was simply to kill Captain Torres because Captain Torres was on a foray against his fellow revolutionaries. This would be a natural way of thinking for him to do it because he wanted to revenge for his friends. The barber described how easy he could kill the captain and he imaged he had killed the Captain and his flood flowed all over the floor. “And so, which will it be? Murderer or hero? My fate hangs on the edge of his razor blade” (Pg. 364). If the barber had killed the captain, captain’s men would catch and kill him. This is the most important to him ---being a conscientious barber. And now come to his second decision to solve the inner conflict which he could not kill the captain. The barber “does not want to stain his hands with blood. Just with lather and nothing else” (Pg. 365). He didn’t want to lose his life because he knew someone is outside of the barber shop. They were going to catch him if he killed Captain “No one deserves the sacrifice others make in becoming assassins” (P345) revealed the barber had understood that it was morally wrong to kill another human being, no matter what the circumstances were .In conclusion, in the beginning of the story the barber was stuck in a dilemma—kill Captain or not.However, the barber finally decided not to be a murder, just simply a barber and values for his job.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays